A Tale Of Two Liverpools
Losing to Manchester United at home is an unacceptable result. Losing to this Manchester United side in just about any venue is an unacceptable result. This Manchester United side is a disgrace. They are, without a doubt, the weakest to ever defeat Liverpool during my lifetime. And yet, defeat us they did. Even beyond the fact that our October form was putrid, this result encapsulates what a dire moment Liverpool is in at the moment. This is the loudest, and probably the last, warning shot our title defense is going to get before we’re out of that conversation entirely. Even with this result, though, I find myself struggling to find a particularly stringent criticism of the team. And I mean a real criticism, not the aimless bellyaching that’s so popular on social media these days. The reason is that Liverpool’s run of bad form quite literally defies explanation. Despite the chorus of increasingly harsh critiques out there, few can adequately explain how there are basically two Liverpools this campaign.
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The PGMOL Sends Their Regards
We’ll get this out of the way now. The officiating at Anfield against United was horrendous. The officiating at Gtech the following Saturday was just as bad. Calling it amateurish would be an insult to all of the amateur referees I know. Michael Oliver straddled the line between being merely inept and being actively malicious. I genuinely think his performance merits further scrutiny. Two whole referees allowed the Brentford crowd to bully them into making game-changing decisions. But that said, it doesn’t actually matter. It doesn’t matter how atrocious the ref is if you can only consistently manage to put the ball in the net once.
Even if Oliver were actually doing everything in his power to disadvantage the home team, his influence only explains so much. The fact that a 3-2 loss to Brentford is considered an improvement is something that cannot be explained away with reference to the men with the whistles. It is ultimately not the fault of the refs that we weren’t able to overcome the worst Manchester United team in Premier League history. Instead, this has been a stark illustration of one of the biggest paradoxes of the season. There is a massive disconnect between who Liverpool is on paper and who they are on matchday.
The Game Isn’t On Paper
Digging into the underlying numbers paints a picture of a Liverpool side that should be unstoppable. Thus far this season, Liverpool has created the most chances in open play by a huge margin. That statistic alone, combined with an attacking formation that includes Alexander Isak, Mohamed Salah, Hugo Ekitike, and Florian Wirtz, should be a game-changer. And yet, even when Liverpool was on its five-match winning streak, we struggled to score from open play. Paul Tomkins and Andrew Beardsley have both noted that the loss to Chelsea came off the back of a 2-1 xG advantage for Liverpool. Yet, the result was 2-1 in the other direction.
Even more starkly, our xG against United was comparable to our infamous seven-goal fiesta in 2023. Yet, once again, we managed to score only once and ultimately lost. Observers are quick to note our massive defensive weaknesses, and they’re not wrong to. But conceding 2+ goals a game should not matter this much when we’re this stacked offensively. We should be capable of scoring way more than we actually are. We demonstrated that offensive ability quite nicely in Germany. Even if Eintracht Frankfurt weren’t at their best, it’s a clear demonstration of what we ought to expect against a comparative middleweight.
Excelling Away
But even beyond the math, just look at what the boys were capable of during the international break. Mohamed Salah looked like a man transformed in the Egypt qualifier, scoring a brace with insulting ease. Kerkez looked far more like his old self with Hungary. Cody Gakpo was an absolute monster for Holland. Andy Robertson’s leadership had Scotland punching well above its weight, even if they didn’t quite make it over the line. Individually, Liverpool has talent coming out of every orifice you care to name. Yet somehow, on Premier League match day, we are less than the sum of our parts.
Even scapegoating individual performances can’t really explain these results. Wirtz had arguably his worst game in our highest-scoring loss. However, that also happened to be Mo Salah’s best game so far this season. Kerkez can’t really be blamed for our defensive problems at Brentford. Virgil van Dijk arguably had more to do with it. Gakpo, who many have been arguing should be dropped in favor of Chiesa, has been our most consistent chance-creator by far.
Arne’s Cross To Bear
Then, of course, attention turns to the man in the dugout. I have to be frank and say that it’s highly embarrassing to watch a fanbase that was heralding Arne Slot as the next Bob Paisley last season turn on him so decisively at this point. For all of the fawning tributes earlier this month about how Klopp turned us into believers, there’s precious little believing going on. On the one hand, I get it. The perceived hopelessness of the situation created by the lack of a clear problem to solve makes this kind of performative pessimism feel correct.
On the other hand, are we really about to call last season a fluke? Lest we forget, this is our first title defense since the pandemic, thanks to Arne Slot. It was Arne Slot’s vision that was so persuasive that we managed to tempt some of the greatest talent in the world over to Anfield this season. Arne Slot himself is clearly throwing everything he has at this problem. He’s tried virtually every configuration of his best XI that makes sense. That’s before you consider navigating the problems of injuries, a blown preseason, and the psychological problems created by an inexplicable losing streak.
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If Arne Slot can’t snap his fingers and fix Liverpool, it’s not a sign he’s a fraud. It’s an indication of just how difficult these problems are. The fact that opinions of what to do vary so enormously, even among pundits and analysts who have half an idea what they’re talking about, illustrates just how Herculean this task is.
The long and short of it is that I don’t know what’s wrong with the team, and neither does anyone else. And it is maddening. It’s depressing. Watching your squad lose feels disempowering even in the best of times, but even more so when it’s this nonsensical. There often seems to be two Liverpools out there, and it’s impossible to know which one is going to show up at any given match. I’d like to end this with some clarity. But I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by the madness of a losing streak and a Cup exit. I can hardly be expected to do better. I have only the hope that things will get better, that things will suddenly come together for the enormously talented squad we’ve assembled. Let’s hope the Villa win brings the first of the two Liverpools back to the forefront.